European venture philanthropists get together in London

More than 40 delegates from 12 countries attended a European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA)[1] workshop in London this January to share their experiences of setting up and running venture philanthropy operations. In addition to EVPA members, guests included foundation representatives, consultants, and other professionals engaged in supporting the non-profit sector

In the morning session, Artur Taevere, founding Director of the Charities Foundation in Tallinn, Estonia described his work – connecting local charities to willing volunteers; a follow-on project where business leaders mentor non-profit executives; a competition for social entrepreneurs; and finally a start-up venture philanthropy fund modelled on the Seattle-based Social Venture Partners.

During the afternoon, smaller groups explored three critical issues in sustaining a healthy venture philanthropy operation: recruiting, training and supporting volunteers to provide technical assistance or consulting to charities; moving beyond grants to other forms of financial assistance; and fundraising from a diverse pool of donors.

Peter Scholten, chair of EVPA’s Performance and Social Impact working group, gave an update on performance and social measurement tools available to venture philanthropists and other funders, and outlined how the working group would narrow these down to a set of tools most useful for EVPA members. Two other working groups have also been launched by EVPA – one covering non-financial, advisory services and one looking at finance in venture philanthropy.

Operational for just 15 months, EVPA currently has 26 members in eight countries. Its vision is to create a role for venture philanthropy which complements and strengthens more traditional sources of funding. Founded by executives from the private equity community, EVPA has close links with both the European Foundation Centre and the European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association. It is sponsored by 3i, Barclays Capital and KPMG.

The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) is a membership network of organizations practising or interested in venture philanthropy, whose mission is to support its members and promote venture philanthropy across Europe.

For more information, see www.evpa.eu.com